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IRISCENTER
Activity
Assistive Technology: Addressing the Needs of Students with High-Incidence Disabilities
Est. Time: 1 Hour
Objective
Learn about various assistive technology (AT) devices available for students with high-incidence
disabilities (e.g., learning disabilities, ADHD).
Overview
Students with disabilities often have difficulty accessing the general education curriculum due to
barriers related to their disability. These barriers can often be addressed through the use of
assistive technology (AT). Assistive technology encompasses both devices and services.
Assistive Devices – Pieces of equipment or technology that facilitate work,
communication, mobility, or other aspects of daily life (e.g., text-to-speech
Devices software, dictation software)
Services Services – The supports or services necessary to use those devices
Technology
appropriately le.g., training, repairs)
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) – the law that guarantees
students with disabilities the right to a free appropriate public education in the least-restrictive
environment-requires educators to consider these two interdependent aspects of AT to aid students
with disabilities in meeting their IEP goals and objectives. When AT is appropriately integrated
into the general education classroom, it improves the functional performance of students with
disabilities. When this occurs, students are better equipped to complete work and meet their
educational goals. However, without the assistance of appropriate AT, these students often continue
to struggle academically. Although many students with disabilities can benefit from the use of
assistive technology, it tends to be underutilized by students with high-incidence disabilities (e.g.,
LD, ADHD).
Activity
Read the student scenarios below and complete the following questions.
Cassie, who has ADHD, is a 6th-grader at a rural middle school. She is often distracted by her
peers in large classes and becomes easily overwhelmed when she has limited time to complete her
assignment. In fact, her math teacher has noticed that she can only complete about one third of the
math problems as her peers during independent practice. Other teachers have observed that when
Cassie is allowed to work among her peers or given more than two directions at a time, she often
cannot complete the tasks in the time given or she completes the tasks incorrectly.
Nate, a freshman in high school, has a language impairment. He generally enjoys school and
works hard in all subject areas. Nate does well in most of his classes, but he is having difficulty
in freshman English. He eagerly participates in class discussions and completes all of his required
readings. Though Nate has thoughtful ideas for writing assignments, he focuses so much of his
time on his spelling and grammar that he does not organize his thoughts and ideas into a coherent
composition.
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Sarah Aler
iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu
052721
1
IRISCENTER
Due tonight
Activity
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Assistive Technology: Addressing the Needs of Students with High-Incidence Disabilities
Activity (CONT]
Connor is a popular 4th-grader with a specific learning disability. Although Connor is able to
quickly and accurately read sight words, his approach to sounding out multi-syllabic words is letter-
by-letter, rather than using prefixes, suffixes, and root words. This affects Connor’s ability to read
fluently and comprehend text.
Questions
Based on the information in the scenarios, answer the following questions for each student.
1. List at least two devices that could help address the student’s barriers.
2. Describe how each device will help the student.
3. What services might this student (or the teacher) need to effectively implement the AT?

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